The Cumbrian Spaceman

Regular readers and acquaintances might know of my interest in UFOs and other strange phenomena, but I usually keep that stuff to a minimum here. Why? Because so much of it is complete rubbish. Although I am fascinated by UFOs and definitely believe there must be something more to a lot of the stranger cases, I consider myself a firm skeptic and complete avoider of paranormal/New Age stuff that has no basis in evidence, theory, or proof - you know, science. That's why this intrigues me so much.

The Cumbrian Spaceman is a good, mysterious case that might have a simple explanation. The only problem is that no one has yet found one.

In 1964, an English firefighter took this photo of his 5 year-old daughter after she gathered wildflowers on a picnic. The man claims that there was no one anywhere near the girl or behind her when the photo was taken and that there was an "electric" feeling in the air, similar to the conditions of an approaching thunderstorm. Oddly, livestock that would normally be grazing all over the field were huddled together in one corner.

Other than these peculiarities, nothing strange was seen at the time the photograph was taken. Upon development, however, it looked as though a figure was standing behind the girl. No one noticed anything at the time. Is the figure wearing a spacesuit? Is it a blemish? Light effect?
Kodak labs had the photograph and negative analyzed, and couldn't find any explanation. In fact, they used the photo in an ad campaign offering a lot of cash to anyone who could explain it. No one has. Any ideas?

(Click the photo to enlarge)

More info here